Kari and Matt

How We Met

Matt and I met while in music school. I was a sophomore and he was a 4th year transfer. It was the annual audition day to see who is in what band and we had to get there at a certain time based on our instruments. As always, I was early so I showed up an hour early for my flute audition and so I hung out with the oboes and bassoons that were still waiting to play.

I had three friends in a group with Matt so it was an easy excuse to talk to the new guy. When we eventually parted, we were both hoping to be friends (I was in a relationship at the time so only Matt thought of being more than friends at the time). However, we didn’t talk at all for the next 9 months!

How He Asked

We decided to go on a date night on our first free Friday in a long time. During the 40min drive to our P.F. Chang’s which happens to be near where he grew up, Matt kept getting texts from his mom about her christmas lights, we ended up ignoring them during dinner. We went on to have a delicious meal complete with splurging on good wine and equally good lettuce wraps to also celebrate 2 months at my new job. As we were heading out I was making plans to stop at our favorite ice cream place on the way home, but then Matt’s mom was texting him again, asking if we could come over to help since she knew we were in the area.

When we get to their house, his mom is already outside telling us that her lights won’t work when they’re on the bushes, but they will work on the ground. She lights them up to show us but instead of a pile of lights like I was expecting, they spell out ‘Marry me?’

I turned around to find Matt down on one knee. I immediately accepted without even looking at the ring because I had too many tears in my eyes.